Improvement in car-replacers



H. VOTH.

Gar-Repiacers.

Patented March 25, 1873.

INVENTORI WITNESSESZ "5 I Y3; fi k:

AM, PHOTO-l ITHDGRAFHIC 80, N. YWSBDRN SPRDCESS) UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

HENRY VOTH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-REPLACERS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY VOTE, of the city and county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a certain VVrecking- Frog for Railways, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of a wrecking-frog which has two cams that tighten automatically upon the rail as the head descends, the cams being so pivoted as to hang in the proper position for application to the rail. My invention also consists in slotting the cams where the pivot passes through, so that the descent of the pivot in the slot will tend to force the cams inward so as to accommodafe the frog to rails of different sizes.

Figure 1. is a perspective view of my frog. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of same, showing the rail in transverse section. In Fig. 2 is shown, by dotted lines, the position of the cams before application to the rail.

A is the rail; B B are two cams on camjaws, which are eccentricall y pivoted in a head, 0. The pivot-pin 0 may pass through a round hole in the cams; but I prefer that said pivots should pass through an inclined slot, 1), so that after the cams have accommodated themselves to the sides of the rail the continued descent of the head should force them directly toward each other, so as to tightly fit any rail whatever. On the top of the head is pivoted at d a skid, D, having a claw-armed end, d.

This wrecking-frog is used for the ordinary purpose-viz., to form a skid-up which the carwheel is made to roll when restoring a railway car to the track.

When the frog is lifted up the cam-jaws B (owing to the position of the slot 11) hang open in position, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, so that the frog may be dropped upon the rail with out any manipulation of the cams. As the frog descends the rail strikes against projections on the cams and partly rotates them so as to, tightly grasp the rail, as shown in full lines in both figures. If the rail should be of smaller dimensions than usual, andthe cams are slotted, as shown at b, the weight upon the frog will force the cams horizontally toward the rail by forcing the pin 0 downward in the slot b. The claw d is intended to hold in a tie or in a block placed beneath it.

I claim as my invention- The notched cams B B, arranged to automatically clamp the rail by the weight of the frog, in combination with the skid D, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY VOTH. Witnesses:

SAML. KNIGHT, ROBERT BURNS. 

